lol,nice work mike. i loved that whiskey jacks team. what you didnt say was that the team won 40 games the year before i took it over, and then got better every year after. is that really horrible? was I supposed to win 90 the next season?

I'll explain why that looks like tanking(and how it applies to your HC team/comments).

Averaging 108 wins with an average payroll of 28m looks an awful lot like tanking. Now, applying that to Hardball Central, you took over a 50 win team with 55m(I think) in committed payroll. You comment, before the world fills, that you have a horrible team and hope you won't be booted for failing to hit 66 wins during the rebuild process. Now, looking at SP and reading between the lines, it makes me think you're going to run a 58m payroll and win whatever. You've laid the groundwork for another 50 win season or two.

i guess i dont get it. im proud of that SP team. it was a doormat before i took it over. it improved every year i had it, while not having a high payroll. my intentions are the same in hardball. rebuild for a few seasons, then make a move. if the team won 70 games before, then i took it over and lost 100, then i would agree more. but these teams were trainwrecks that nobody wanted. if that makes me a tanker, then i cant defend myself. i guess im a tanker.

i think my best "tank" example would be my richmond team in johnny5bench. i had 3 100 loss seasons in a row. it was after that i feel i grew as a HBD player and really dialed in what it takes. i learned alot from those experiences. now my rebuilds will be more respectable.

It's the internet. I don't "know" anyone. How am I to know if RL got in the way or they were simply tanking? Hit the MWR or move on. I offer anyone removed for missing the MWR an opportunity to re-apply after skipping a season. That way, intentional or not, they don't benefit from winning 35 games.

To further the point, tanking works. If you have 12-18 months and don't mind losing, you can tank your way to a super team. Bumped Tanking 101 for you.

So, as a commish, I have a responsibility to 31 owners. While one may have had a run of bad RL luck, there are 30 others who were playing to reach the MWR. Therefore there can't be one rule for "Bad luck in real life" and another rule for "playing by the rules." In the worlds I commish, MG and Coop, I've had to wave bye to some good, attentive owners for failing to hit the MWR. Only one has had to be forcible removed(the tanker who was instrumental in the creation of 55/125/195/280 MWR) and only one complained loudly. So far three removals have returned and a fourth is on the waitlist.

And, FWIW, I'll remove myself if I fail to hit the MWR. One rule for 32 owners and all situations.

Unless a team is a real **** storm I don't see how anyone can't win over 50 games.. I took over probably 15 replacement teams and you can pretty much tell in my history which of those records belong to those teams. Now, I've had a team or two I only won 50-55 games in consecutive seasons but it is a rare occurrence that I lose that many games two seasons in a row. In Doubleday and Ballpark Franks both worlds I have been in pretty much from the start I have never won less than 70 games in either of those worlds. After 76 completed seasons I have only lost 100 or more 7 times and 5 of those times were mid season replacement teams.

I believe "Tanker" loses more than 100 in over half their completed seasons.. And it is obvious which teams you took over as a replacement or after a really terrible owner owned the team. It's what you do after three seasons of repairing the damage that counts. Sure, having a couple 50-55 win seasons in a row after taking over a train wreck is normal. I think there are too many picky people out there that are quick to point fingers at others and call them tankers... Too many people that think they know more than they do. Sometimes **** happens and the best way to build the team is to have a bad season or two.

The only reason to win 50 in consecutive seasons is because you want to win 50 games in consecutive seasons. The game isn't set-up for 112-50 teams or 50-112 teams. There can be the occassional fluke but it shouldn't happen over and over again.